The University boys have not had much success playing at Covenant Christian’s Warrior Fieldhouse. Entering Friday night’s game on Indianapolis’ West Side, the Trailblazers had won just once in five games at Covenant Christian.
At halftime Friday night it looked like it could be another tough night for the Trailblazers, who battled back to take a 30-28 halftime lead on a late three-pointer by Quinn Steiner.
Steiner’s basket turned out to be the hoop that put University ahead to stay as the Trailblazers outscored Covenant Christian 16-2 over the first five minutes of the third quarter to wrest control of the game and eventually win 65-45.
Sophomore Camden Brown led University with 15 points and seven rebounds. Sam Mervis played a fine all-around game with 10 points, six rebounds and a team-high seven assists. Joe Martin had 10 points and six assists while Jacob Sager and Steiner each had nine points.
Covenant Christian tried to take away the three point shooting of the Blazers and that led to University dumping the ball inside to Brown and Sager and drives to the basket by Martin and Mervis.
“Camden Brown and Jacob Sager gave us a ton of quality minutes tonight” said University coach Brandon Lafferman. “They finished plays around the rim. Sam Mervis and Joe Martin did a great job handling the ball tonight in the third quarter and dealing with Covenant’s pressure.”
“Quinn Steiner gave us a great effort off the bench” Lafferman continued. “He hit some big shots for us. We won tonight by playing hard-nosed gritty basketball. This is a big road win in a hard place to play.”
University jumped out to an early 9-2 lead but the Warriors battled back to cut the lead to 18-14 after the first quarter. Covenant Christian scored the first eight points of the second period, holding University scoreless for the three minutes of the period before Mervis scored on a drive down the left side of the lane. Steiner put University back in front at 27-26 with a three pointer with 1:34 left in the half. After a Warrior basket, Steiner hit another three with 35 seconds left for the half time lead.
The Trailblazers came out of the halftime locker room on fire. Brown scored just eight seconds in to the half before Mervis stole the ball and found Max Greenamoyer open for a three pointer and a 35-28 lead just 35 seconds in to the half. The Warriors scored before University scored the next nine points. Greenamoyer grabbed an offensive rebound under the basket and fed Maritn for an easy layup. Martin then found Brown for two before Mervis stole the ball and went the length of the floor for a layin, forcing a Covenant Christian timeout at 41-30. Sager then scored the next five points for a 46-30 lead. University led by double figures for the rest of the game.
The Class 1A No. 5 Trailblazers improved to 16-3 with the win. Covenant Chrstian dropped to 8-10.
University is next in action Tuesday night in a battle of top five teams as they travel to Heritage Christian to take on the Class 2A No. 5 Eagles who will enter at 15-3. University has lost six straight games to the Eagles, the last four by a total of 12 points.
University 65, Covenant Christian 45
University FG FT TP PF
Sam Mervis 5-9 0-1 10 3
Max Greenamoyer 2-5 0-0 6 1
Jacob Sager 4-8 1-4 9 2
Camden Brown 7-9 0-0 15 3
Joe Martin 4-10 2-3 10 1
Eyal Friedman 0-0 0-0 0 2
Nate Shatkowski 1-1 0-0 2 2
Eric Major 0-1 0-0 0 0
Korey Ash-Simpson 2-3 0-0 4 1
Quinn Steiner 3-4 0-0 9 1
Totals 28-50 3-8 65 16
Score by Quarters
University 18 12 20 15 – 65
Covenant Christian 14 14 10 7 – 45
University 3-point shooting (6-13) Steiner 3-4, Greenamoyer 2-5, Brown 1-2, Mervis 0-1, Martin 0-1.
University rebounds (30) Brown 7, Mervis 6, Steiner 5, Sager 4, Martin 2, Greenamoyer 2, Ash-Simpson 2, Major 2.